[Info-vax] VMS Server and WebApp future and People Power

[Richard Maher]

On 19-Feb-16 7:46 PM, IanD wrote:
>
> Is there a summarised version?

Sadly no. Thanks for trying but this is a brown-field development with
bagage.


> Is it basically the battle between those that believe the phone is
> the almighty center of the universe and all right there-in belong to
> the user of the device and the other camp who believe in trust of the
> programmer to always do the right thing and not actually keep
> tracking users when they have closed a given app ?

No.

It's a battle between those that think a limited number of geofences of 
limited size that only manifest at the client are capable of satisfying 
user/device tracking requirements and those that can see.


> I would fall into the camp of not wanting to be tracked, period. If
> I've shit down an app I don't want it keeping tabs on where I am on
> the sleigh no matter what permissions I gave the app at install. If
> i've shut something down it needs to be dead, not play dead
>

Good! No worries. Users like you turn off GeoLocation in Settings and 
don't have to worry about it again.

Users now have geolocation while their app is running in foreground and 
not while sleeping. That's enough for some apps/users and they have to 
approve the Web App the first time and after that App Settings are required.

NB. CURRENTLY FireFox and the Android Browser permit the 
standard/ubiquitous Navigator.GeoLocation.watchPosition() to continue 
running even though the user has left the App. See bugs (just skip to 
the end for my concerns): -

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1216148
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=784505

But then there are one or two people who want to track their bike ride 
or jog or want to see their mates on Social Networking or where their 
pizza is. It is this demographic that I wish to appeal to.

What would they require to satisfy them that they are fully informed 
about and in control of an app tracking them in the background?

What we have now and some other suggestions: -

User-empowerment, transparency, and governance as at now: -
1) User permission must be explicitly granted before GPS is accessible.
2) While GPS is being watched, even in background, the circles/ripples 
icon cue is visible to user on the device.
3) The underlying Service Worker architecture mandates the use of 
secure/authenticated httpS communication.
4) The user can be 100% sure tracking is off by simply closing the 
browser on their device.
5) The manifest-resident gcm_sender_id (Google Project Id) can be 
revoked/voided if a site is behaving badly

Further Options: -
1) Only permit background/service-worker GPS access if the Web App is 
installed/home-screened?
2) If a single GPS permission will cover both background and foreground 
access, then put a link on the permission-toast pointing to the Faustian 
details?
3) Use a new icon, perhaps an eye or a doughnutted version of the 
current GPS ripples? Pulse the icon?
4) When the device goes to sleep when a Web App is still watching GPS, 
or simply backgrounds or minimizes a device-tracker, it should make a 
sound and or vibrate as a non-visual cue that tracking is ongoing?
5) When a device is reawakened or a device-tracking app is brought back 
to the foreground, then a notification must be sent to the user "This 
App continued to monitor your location in the background". The 
"Settings" icon on the message could facilitate "Prevent this app from 
tracking in the background" Forever/Just once.
6) Like the Push API the default must be DO NOT track in the background. 
If the user chooses the individual APP settings then they can turn it on?
7) Prevent an App from being backgrounded unless user confirms they are 
happy for it to keep tracking.

Look sorry for being wordy again but it is a wordy topic and I'm trying 
to get people up to speed as quickly as possible.

Note: This is not a case of Richard's idea or nothing. As I said before 
this would be a brown-field development: -

Similar conundrums so that Service Worker GPS is not singled out unfairly: -

1) Firefox currently continues to process watchPosition events in background
2) All browsers except IE and Chrome continue to watchPosition when 
phone is locked but browser tab in foreground.
3) The proposed WAKE-LOCK and CPU-LOCK will backdoor user-tracking
4) The proposed GeoFence API, as it stands, will be another backdoor to 
user tracking
5) Native Apps can do this with impunity
6) Push Messages must be required to trigger a notification so as not to 
be silent/stealthy.
7) Geofencing is still tracking! Knowing when my next victim leaves 
their house each Tuesday is still an intrusive invasion of one’s privacy 
if it has not been sanctioned. Surely the degree of “badness” is not the 
issue here?
8) Speech synthesis API and microphone access

Hope this helps and thanks again for the interest!